I've had my 360 for about a year now and just this past week finally got around to renting Dead Rising. After about an hour of playing I took the disc from the tray, stuffed it back in its Gamefly envelope, walked down to the road and shoved it in the mailbox.

It's not that I don't like the game or the concept. What I played was fun and excitingly different from any other game I've ever played. This was until I realized that I had a limited amount of time to complete all the case files and reach the helipad. Now normally this wouldn't be too big of a problem for me. While I don't typically like games that include timers, I can usually deal with them. The problem with Dead Rising is that in order to complete the main "quest," so the speak, you have to neglect many others aspects of the gameplay, such as rescuing all the survivors. This is where I begin to go a little crazy.

I suppose I should tell you that I play games in a very leisurely manner, at least the ones that allow for it, exploring every nook, looking for every hidden item, soaking in the art, music and atmosphere, often, perhaps, to the detriment to the intended pacing of gameplay and storyline. Games where this isn't an option, on-rails shooters for example, don't bother me because this type of gameplay is inherently prohibited in the design. It appears that I have a sort of GOCD (Gaming Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), because I'm not OCD in the slightest in real life.

This is why I can't make myself play Dead Rising any further. It was already beginning to stress me out, and I could see that it was only going to get worse. In the back of my mind all I can think is that I'm never going to be able to do everything I want to do before the timer runs out. I don't even know if I'm overreacting, whether the time limit is generous enough to allow for full completion, or whether I must pick and choose what gets done. I think to myself, "What if I try to do everything and end up not completing the case files on time?" It's this little niggling voice that keeps me in a constant state of anxiety, unable to truly enjoy the game.

So overwhelming

So, here's the question: is there anyone else at all that feels this way about Dead Rising or other similar games? Am I unique in this regard? If you do have a similar experience, do you give up like I do, or is there some method that helps you get over your GOCD?